1161 
in starting, both boats having their oars in the mud. The 
race was very even to the top of the Willows, where Exeter 
gained considerably, owing to some eccentric steering on the 
part of the University coxswain, who crossed the river 
nearly at right augles, we supposo to avoid the wind. It, 
however, lost the race, for, notwithstanding their most 
plucky exertions, Exeter won by two seconds, rowing the 
distance in eight minutes sixteen seconds — wonderfully fast, 
considering the wind, which was blowing a hurricane. 
Trinity, the holders of the prize, could not find a crow 
this year, and consequently the Challenge Cup and Presen- 
tation Medals were handed over to Exeter. Since the 
establishment of these races in 1840, the following Colleges 
have had the honour of carrying off the prize, viz. — 1840, 
Bmsenose ; 1841, University; 1842, University; 1843, 
Oriel ; 1844, University ; 1845, Christ Church ; 184(5, Christ 
Church; 1847, Christ Church ; 1848, Oriel; 1849, Brasenose; 
1850, Brasenose ; 1851, Christ Church; 1852, Trinity ; 1853, 
Trinity; 1854, Exeter. 
ROWING AT CAMBRIDGE. 
UNIVERSITY SCRATCH FOURS. 
These races which wo briefly noticed last week, were con- 
cluded on Monday, the 4th instant. The forty -four boats 
having been reduced to three, a time-race was rowed between 
them. Mr. Gorst’s crew won easily, Mr. Bather’s being 
second. The following were the crews : — 
FIB8T. SHCOXD. UltllD. 
Cayley, St. Johns Fitzroy, Trinity Hall navant, St Johns 
Kyffiu, Jesus Latham, 1st Trinity Leonard, St Johns 
l’earson, St Johns Blake, Corpus Nix, 1st Trinity 
Graham, 1st Trinity Jones, 3rd Trinity Atkinson, Trinitv Hall 
Gorst, St Johns (cox) Bather, St Johns (cox) Moll way, Jesus '(cox) 
A HINT TO CAMBRIDGEMEN. 
Sir, — An intimation has been sent by Mr. S. Herbert to a 
friend in Oxford, that auy boating jackets, Jerseys, cricket- 
ing trowsers, or loose old reading gowns, may be of groat 
use to the army in the Crimea. 
This had not occurred to most of us, and may possibly not 
have hitherto been thought of at Cambridge. We are now 
making a collection as fast as we can. 
It is obviously just the sort of supply that University men 
oau best send out; aud it is the nick of time for it — just 
before we all go down. 
If you will put this suggestion into your columns it may be 
of use. Yours, Sir, &c., 
OXONIENSIS. 
awsuws. 
OUR SALMON FISHERIES. 
To the Editor of The Field. 
Sir, — I rejoice to find in your article, “ Sports and Sports- 
men,” in the last Field, that the important subject of our 
salmon fisheries is not being lost sight of. Mr. Henry Mar- 
shall deserves the thanks of all lovers of the rod for his 
exertions in the matter, and to have secured the good offices 
of a gentlcmau willing to undertake the conduct of a new 
Act of Parliament on the subject is a great advantage. 
The existing laws are quite inadequate for the preservation 
of our fisheries, and the obtaining of a conviction under 
them is frequently a doubtful matter. I hope The Field, 
under its new proprietor, will not let the matter drop, but 
continue to ventilate the subject well ; no doubt, by so 
doing, you will receive many practical suggestions from 
salmon fishers, which may be useful to those who have the 
bosk of framing a new law on the subject. — I remaiu, Sir, 
your obedient servant, Piscator. 
December 4. 
SALMON. 
To the Editor of The Field. 
Dear Sir, — I noticed, with great pleasure, in your paper 
of last Saturday, that a friend of Mr. Henry Marshall intends 
introducing a bill in the House of Commons, with a view of 
restoring the salmon fisheries of Great Britain : such a friend 
is a friend in need, and, I should say, will almost be wor- 
shipped by those who enjoy the sport of salmon-fishing, if 
he has, as he certainly deserves, the good fortune to carry 
the measure. 
As a bill of this kind will have to provide against in- 
numerable evils which beset this monarch of the Jinny tribe, 
allow me to draw attention to one or two which occurred to 
me at the time I read the particulars, viz., the construction 
of many of the weirs, or mill-dams, which prevent the fish 
ascending, except in times of floods, and the fixed traps, 
which are constantly waiting, day and night, for then* unfor- 
tunate prey. I should beg to suggest, that every one who 
erected, or was the owuer of a weir or dam, should make 
such provision as would enable the fish to asceud at all 
times without obstruction, and any person fixing traps of 
any kind should be subject to a heavy penalty. Wishing the 
bill every success, I remain your constant reader, 
Flyfisher. 
BOTTOM FISHING. 
To the Editor of The Field. 
Sir, — In reference to a letter in your paper (last week’s), 
statiug that some old fisher had caught a horse mussel with 
bottom fishing, I beg to state that I can vouch that two have 
been caught at Staveley this year in the same way ; and a 
person named Woodhead assures me, that as he was fishing for 
chub with a large moth (according to instructions given by 
41 quaint old Izaak,” when he caught the chub with the 
white spot on it), he perceived a weasel on the other side of 
the river (Rother) watching his bait, and which finally took 
it, aud was caught. 
I myself saw a kingfisher lost year which had been caught 
by an old man, named Jarvace, on a night-line baited with 
a live minnow, and left on a shallow. — I am, Sir, yours 
obediently, G- D. B. 
Salmon Propagation at Perth. — The fishermen em- 
ployed at present in re-stocking the boxes at Stourmouut- 
■field with ova for next year’s fry have been pretty successful, 
&s upwards of a hundred thousand have already beeu 
safely deposited. The fishermen report that a considerable 
number of the fish taken in their nets have spawned, which 
is considered very early in the season, aud at no previous 
time have the fords beeu so full of spawning fish. 
Herring Fishing. — At Pendeou, on the 27th, a great quan- 
tity of fish, supposed to be pilchards, were seen going down 
the Channel. Fish have beeu seen oft' Mullion aud Gunwal- 
loe, but the weather has been too rough to secure auy. 
St. Ives. — On the 9.7th iust. an abundance of fish passed 
■deep taking a western direction ; one seine was shot at 
Porthniinster, by Messrs. Tremeame and Co., on the 28th 
THE FIEL D. 
inst., but missed ; and on Wednesday morning the drift 
boaU took from 1,000 to 1S.000 fine pilchards, which fouu.l 
a le.ody sale at Is. aud 2s. per hundred for the Bristol 
maikut, and home consumption. 
Hay— -The Wye Fishery.- A n influential meeting, under 
the presidency of Viscount Hereford, lately took place at 
Hay, where a subscription was entered into for the purpose 
oi protecting the salmon in the act of spawning, and other- 
wise preserving the salmon brood in that locality. Several 
gentlemen put down their names for £5 each ; a pretty good 
testimony of their earnestness in the cause. A local com- 
mittee was appointed, and we have no doubt, if their ener- 
gies be well directed, we shall soon witness the benefit <>f 
their exertions by an increased number of fish in the river 
\V ye- \V e hope that similar proceedings will take place at 
xSuiltn, Hoss, Monmouth, and Chepstow. 
THE SPORT SMAN ’S LIBRARY, 
Shooting : A Manual of Practical Information on this Branch 
of British Field Sports. By Rodkrt Blakey, Author of 
“ Angling," &c. Loudon : Routledge. 
Shooting is one of the manly sports which have made the 
English gentleman the world's wonder ; for it is with 
amazement the world has seen him quitting the ease and 
luxury of his home anil sharing the toils, the privations, the 
wounds, and the death of the soldier, and all for the love of 
glory and for the pleasure of exercising those physical 
faculties which lie has cultivated in his native fields. Mr. 
Blakey, writing before the war had exhibited the great 
advantage of field sports, praised shooting for many other 
benefits produced by it. It augments the pedestrian capa- 
bilities of man, on whose health depends the enjoyment, or 
associated with, “ all that is manly, energetic, und health- 
ful;” it gives a gentle impulse to the intellect, preventing 
that extreme sensibility to the evils and perplexities of life 
which overwhelm men of sedentary habits, who think too 
much. Zimmerman says of it : — 
There is no one, who may not, by quietly traversing the 
mouutaius with his gnu, learn to feel how much the great 
secrets of nature will influence the heart, when assisted by 
the powers of the imagination. The sight of an agreeable 
landscape, the various points of view which the spacious 
plains afford, the freshness of the breoze, the beauties of the 
sky, and the appetite which a long ramble procures, will 
give energy to health, and make every new step seem too 
short. The privation of every object that can recall the idea 
of dependence, accompanied by domestic comfort, whole- 
some exercises, and useful occupations, will add vigour to 
thought, aud inebriate the heart with the most delicious 
sensations. 
Truly does Mr. Blakey add that — 
The social and individual advantages of English field- 
sports are beyond calculation. Men dwell upon a remem- 
brance of them with a reverence bordering on idolatry. The 
pastimes of our forefathers have ever beeu of a mauly and 
vigorous kind. The old train of umusenients iu oldeu times 
was calculated to render the youthful generation active, 
sprightly, nimble, generous, and courageous, and to rear 
them up to useful and honourable manhood. With what 
euthusiam aud right good-feeling do we ponder over the 
pages of some of the old writers, who tell us that “ in the holi- 
days, iu the summer aud autumn, the gents are exercised in 
leaping, dancing, shooting, wrestling, and casting the stone, 
and practising at the target ; and the maidens trip with their 
timbrels, and dance as long as they cau see.” 
A love of field-sports generally, and of shooting in particu- 
lar, takes us from the noise, aud filth, and moral degrada- 
tion incident to large towns. It places us iu the midst of 
the cultivation of the soil — the real foundation of all national 
wealth and happiness Every thing connected with the 
wanderings of the sportsman is calculated to foster the best 
aud noblest feelings of the soul, aud to impart to the mind 
the most lofty and sublime ideas of universal nature. To 
men of genius and contemplative habits, the roaming among 
the mountain wilds, and the green fields, gives rise to the 
most refined intellectual enjoyments. Such persons may be 
said to live in a world of their own, and are the recipients of 
joys aud sorrows, with which the world at large doth not 
intermeddle. How pure, refined, anil exquisite are the 
delights which fill the mind from gazing on the mountain 
pass, the wood, the rocks, and waterfalls ! 
The use and advantage of shooting being conceded, the 
author proceeds to describe the means by which it is to be 
enjoyed and the rules that regulate it, treating successively 
of the gun and its necessary appendages : the dog, and his 
management; the necessary rules of the art, embodied in the 
use of both gun and dog ; and, lastly, of the application of 
these rules to the various objects which come under the 
ordinary category of a shooting sportsman. And, first, of 
the gun. 
The most important part of the gun is the barrel. The 
Spanish barrels are the best, and, next to them, Mr. Blakey 
prefers the stub-twist. Mr. Greener has thus told us 
how to test a gun-barrel. 
Require the gun-maker to stain the barrel under examina- 
tion with the smoke-brown (a staining composition of which 
he gives an account in his book) aud he will not be able to ac- 
complish it, if the barrel be not genuine ; whereas nothing 
is easier, if it be really made of stubs twisted. The matter 
may be thus explained : hydrogen gas acts only on iron, 
steel resists its action ; so that, when a barrel is properly 
finished, the steel remains quite bright, while the iron has 
become a beautiful jet-black, which will be easily recognised 
by attention to the appearance. 
Gravitation produces a curvilinear flight of shot from the 
barrel : there is a constantly increasing tendency to full 
to the ground. The elevated rib is designed to counteract 
this effect. The usual elevations do not deliver the shot at 
the mark even at forty yards with a usual charge of powder. 
Mr. Greener says that his experiments provg that in heavy 
charges of shot the droop is full twelve inches in forty yards, 
hut that with less charges of shot the line is more direct. 
As to the length of barrel, the fashion now is brevity ; 
but it is questionable if our sportsmen have not car- 
ried this too far. Mr. Robins says that the length may be 
anything between twenty-eight and forty inches, but that 
the runge of shot fails ei’tlicr above or below these lengths. 
The Oakleigh Shooting Code says of this : — 
The fowliug-piece to b® recommended fof general uso is a 
double-barrelled detonator, weighing about eight pounds ; 
the barrels thirty or thirty-two inches in length, sixteen 
gauge, aud made <>f twisted stubs. It is not sportsmanlike 
to use double-barrels of a greater calibre; nor are b.ngor 
barrels convenient on account of their weight, although 
additional length, not carried to an extreme, or a larger 
calibre, may probably render them moro effective, in so far 
as they will sustain a heavier charge. Single barrels, for 
general use, may bo thirty-four inches long aud fourteen 
gauge. 
And again : — 
1 lie barrels of tho grousing gun should be thirty-two inches 
loug, sixteen gauge ; a single barrel for grouso-shootiug 
should bo thirty-six inches long, and fourteen or fifteen 
gauge. If selected for partridge shooting only, tho barrels 
should be thirty iuehes long, and sixteen gauge ; or a niugle 
barrel thirty-four iuehes, aud fourteen or fifteen gauge. I f 
selected for cover shooting only, tho barrels should ho only 
twenty-eight iuehes by sixteen gauge ; or single barrels 
thirty-two inches, aud fiftoeu gauge. 
Hie ordinary distance of range of a fowling-piece is forty 
yards. The long shots are exceptions to the rule “ From 
twenty-five to thirty yards is about the average distance at 
which nine out of ten of every bird is killed. Many are 
wounded, nay, even killed dead, at forty, fifty, or even sixty 
yards ; but it is clear that these are but solitary cases, anil 
arc chiefly the efforts of mere chance or random shots hit- 
ting some vital member of the body." 
A gun being a valuable instrument easily damaged by 
carelessness, it should be kept clean anil in working order; 
and the sportsman should do this himself, and not depend 
upon others, especially upon servants. We like Mr. 
Lancaster’s 
DIRECTIONS for cleaning ouns. 
Always clean those parts of tho barrels and locks that the 
detonating powder acts upon with a wot rag ; then rub thorn 
dry, and leave them iu oil to prevent rust. Tho pegs should 
uot be taken out too often. Before you take out tho barrels, 
bring tho locks to half-cock. Tho locks do not require to bo 
taken off every time tho gun is used; onco a fortnight is 
quite sufficient. Put a littlu lino oil to tho parts where there 
is friction ; but if the gun lias boou used on a wot day, 
the locks should bo takeu oft’ to bo cleaned, and oiled imme- 
diately. 
To which Mr. Blakey adds : — 
Tho following, among many other motliods, is eliossn 
because wo lmvo found it always to answer tho desired end. 
Provide some boiling water, anil an empty pail ; detach tho 
barrel from the stock, aud with a clearing rod furnished with 
tow, we begin to pour the hot water down each barrel. Wo 
scour it well with the clearing rod, aud discharge tho barrel 
of the foul water. Place hot water in it a Hcoonil time, and 
wipe out the barrels with fresh tow, until they are com- 
pletely dry, both without and within. Should there bo any 
moisture lurking within tho screw-joints of lift breach and 
touch-hole, it is a good plan to let down an iron plug of red 
heat, which, being moved up and down the barrel or barrels 
for half a minute, will effectually absorb every particle of 
moisture or damp. All this should be done by tho sports- 
man’s own hand ; and not, if it cau he avoided, left to 
another person to do. 
A barrel should be cleaned, as a general rule, after 
twenty shots. 
As for powder, there has been much disputing which is 
best, some recommending coarse, others fine, grains. Col. 
Hawker preferred the fine cylinder of Curtis and Hcrvey ; 
and he remarks that the large-grained powder is apt to miss 
fire, in which our own experience corroborates him. The 
cause of this being, ns we found, that the large grains did 
not enter the nipple. The Oakleigh Shooting Code gives 
the following directions for 
the choice of qun powder. 
The Dartfonl guupowder bought from one retailor will 
fire smart and strong, while a similar article obtained from 
another will be comparatively week and slow of ignition. 
This difference iu tho quality of powder is occasioned by ex- 
posure to different utmosphercs. Gunpowder is generally 
purchased by the shooter ut a provincial town at some 
distance from the manufacturers. One shop or warehouse is 
dry ; another is damp. One package of powder may have 
lain only twenty-four hours in tho front boot of the London 
mail, iu July, to the imminent danger of the cigur-whiffer 
on the coach-box ; another may have been sweating throe 
weeks in a caual-boat, in March ; hence the various degrees 
of liability to imbibe moisture before the powder comes into 
tho retailor’s possession, and while in his keeping. Damp 
uot only affects the nitre, of which gunpowder is chiefly 
composed, aud thereby occasions loss of strength ; but it 
also operate prejudicially ou tho ingredients which contribute 
to instantaneous ignition. 
In relution to shot, opinions also vary. Mr. Blakey thus 
treats of it : — 
WHAT SHOT TO USE. 
To what degree the various sorts of shot are effective, is a 
question uot at ull settled at tlio present day. Whore oppo- 
site opinions prevail it is difficult to decide, and it is a lolly 
to bo dogmatical. Some sportsmen of distinction maintain 
that, for ordinary purposes of game shooting, No. 7 is tho 
best kind of shot that can be ysed. It lies closer aud more 
compact to the barrel than any othor. Other sportsmen, 
again, think tho Nos. 3 aud 4 are to bo preferred to auy 
other sizes for common every-day work in tho prime of the 
shooting-season. Captain Williamson pleads for No. 9, and 
General Hanger for No. 2. Another great authority tells 
us, that iu the first mouth of partridge-shooting, shot No. 5 
should he used ; and for this reason : at this time the birds 
spring at hand, aud we seldom fire at more than the distance 
of forty yards. If a shooter takes a fair aim lie can scarcely 
fail to do bouio mischief by such a circle or disc of shots. 
Hares, likewise, at this period sit closer, and being but thinly 
covered with fur, may easily be killed with tins sized shot 
at thirty or thirty-five paces. In snipe and quad shooting 
this sliot is tho most eligible. When October advances, the 
birds are stronger on the wing, aud then No. 3 will be found 
more suitable. This shot, it is maintained possesses a 
proper medium between shot too large and that which is too 
small, and will kill a partridge at fifty yards with certainty. 
It is adapted for all kinds of gamo. It. is contended that 
1 ... i . but this con- 
„ N .pted for all kinds of game. It 
distant objects may bo shot by large sho 
sideration cannot bear upon the question which involves the 
killing a number of birds within a comparatively short 
range, and where tho shots ore numerous. With these state- 
ments we shall leave tho reader ty his own fancy and cx- 
